Here is what you call bushcraft.

[MadZ]

personally i think its ashame that we have all fallen victim to the modern ways of life in this country and are now only rediscovering things that would have been second nature or part of every day life to us and that technological advancements have made us forget the things that are of importance to us.

it sucks that we now work for money to get the everyday things we need to live, rather than forage, hunt and use the forgotten skills to survive.

its cool that they spent four decades out in the jungle, i find it weird though as it says it was a five hour search that ended up finding them, how they managed to avoid people for that long amazes me, much respect goes out to these fellows

cheers

Madz

[OakAshandThorn]

Dear me...I can never understand this foolish concept of "civilising" people who are used to the wilderness - reminds me of the imperialism in Africa. If they want to live in the bush, let them! Don't force them to be integrated into modern society...let them make their own choice. Shows how spoiled we are, to tell these people that the way they live isn't 'appropriate'.
Gosh...that just really burns me .

[saxonaxe]

Personally I think it's very easy to fall into the trap of seeing foraging and 'living off the land' as a kind of ideal way of life. There are few areas in the world where it is still possible...for the whole population that is..too many people in too little space. In Somalia thousands die of starvation, and that's in a land where many of the people still retain the skills to forage far better than us.

It's just the pressures of the modern world that make many people long for a simpler life, I see there are events in England where people are willing to pay nearly £200 for the family to watch/learn how to make a fire/shelter/bow and arrow!!!

What puts it in perspective for me is seeing the desperation with which people try to escape from a life which others see as ideal. I was wintering in the Canary Islands a couple of years ago when the Maritime Police towed this into the marina where I was living on my boat.



It's a converted rubbish skip (Dumpster for our American friends) Nearly 30 people crowded into that and tried to cross 90 miles of ocean, just to escape a life where they had to forage every day, to live.



The outboard engine had broken down and they had drifted for days. Eighteen were still alive, the African sun, desperation and thirst had ended the search for a better life in a modern world for the others.

[MadZ]

thats mental, 30 in that skip

i can see why people would think they can have a better life in a different place, grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence so to speak, but look 12 people died and the rest who knows they probably got deported back. i really dont know why there are people starving to death in todays world, there is enough food grown and produced (120billion tonnes) for everyone to eat(90billion tonnes consumed), yet the less needy throw things away and the more needy starve, sickening to be honest, but thats greed and corruption.

if it did ever come down to having to go back to old ways, it would solve alot of the issues the world has like fossil fuel shortage, oil spills, deforestation etc, but would also cause havoc as many millions would die, not to sound sick or anything but if millions did die it might not be such a bad thing, as it would give the planet a chance to rejuvenate, endangered animals a chance to re-establish them selves, fish stocks could grow, the high amounts of pollution would stop or be massively reduced, i know it would take centuries for this to start having a big affect, maybe an event like the huge solar flair thats meant to hit earth soon, will bring this sooner than we think.

i may be missing a massively bigger picture here, and have become to focused on what i would try to achieve if "going back to the old ways" did ever happen, just like the guys in the article did, certainly got the old cogs turning in the rusty wheel house (my head)

cheers

Madz

[BJ]

I don't think the authorities are doing them any favours in bringing them out. At 82 would you want the bother of joining modern society after 40 years of self sufficiency ? Although I tend to focus on the aspects I see as enjoyable and ignore the illness and injury type scenario. Thought provoking !

[saxonaxe]

I'm with those who would prefer a simpler life believe me, in fact I live in a way that deliberately avoids as much of the 'modern world' as possible, so I'm certainly not a fan of the rat race.
Tragically a good proportion of the 30 people in that skip when it left the West African shore were travelling with their parents, so occupied little space. I was glad when the authorities towed it away.